Listening on Behalf of Others
>> Thursday, October 2, 2008
What did you think about this section? How do you normally react when someone is in distress? Do we tend to treat the symptom or the cause and are people getting any better?
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3 comments:
I think I'm guilty of trying to treat the symptoms and not the cause. I underlined the part on page 108 where he says, "when you see in other-or find in yourself-reactions and responses that seem way out of proportion, that's a clue that something else is going on."
I have a close friend who struggles with fear. She has good days and bad days but that struggle is always there for her. Sometimes when she mentions it to me, I find myself thinking "you're still dealing with that." Not a very nice response but I confess I think that. However when I talk with her about it, we always talk about how to fix it. We never talk about the "why" the "cause".
I think, at least for myself, it's safer to not venture down that road. I don't want to offend my friend or have her think I'm looney, but what freedom she could have if I only listened on behalf of her instead of trying to fix her.
Eldredge brings up some pretty powerful and convicting stuff. Have I mentioned lately how much I'm getting out of this book!
This made me think of a recent experience I had with a friend. We do not spend a whole lot of time together...but we enjoy each other when we are.
She surprised me and stopped by our house one morning....it had been a couple of months since she had stopped in. And before long I realized she was in distress...I of course tried to treat the symptoms....and have thought many times about checking in on her but have not yet. Maybe I have not checked in on her yet because I am afraid that things have not gotten any better for her. I think it is just our nature to try to "fix" things and make them better.
What a humble reminder that we do not have the answers and ability to "fix" things on our own. Only He has the power to change our lives.
I am also guilty of often trying to help people by attempting to fix their sypmtoms. I think that one fear that I have had about "listening on behalf of others" the way that Edlredge describes it (listening for a response from God after praying with someone) is that I might not hear anything in that moment, or what if I told someone that I heard something from God, but my "listnening" was off.
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